No matter what product or service you sell, providing quality information on your site or blog is essential. For example, if your business provides insurance-related services, it’s not a bad idea to publish information from government departments, such as news or updates on statistical findings, insurance advice, etc.
To create and publish this type of information, however, is really time-consuming. You have to sift through, gather, and organize a ton of data, check your facts, write and edit content (or hire someone to do this for you), and then continually ensure that this information is up-to-date. As you can imagine, this not only involves a lot of work but most of the information you are dealing with is entirely beyond your control.
Fortunately, there is a simpler way to keep your readers up-to-date with your information.
It’s called RSS …
(RSS is one of the easiest ways to provide your readers with the latest information)
The Ultimate Guide To WordPress RSS
What Does RSS Stand For?
- RSS, which, according to some stands for RDF Site Summary, is more commonly known as Really Simple Syndication. It can also be referred to as a “feed” or “news feed”.
- RSS lets content publishers automatically syndicate their content so that their site readers can read it without having to keep revisiting sites to check for updates.
- Feeds are typically used to publish frequently updated information, such as new blog entries, news headlines, audios, etc., to which users can then subscribe.
- RSS feed content can be read using software programs called feedreaders, or aggregators. Aggregators can be used to find new content published on websites and syndicate this content to other online properties.
- There are different kinds of feeds, read by different aggregators. Some of these include RSS feeds, Atom (also called AtomPub or APP feeds and RDF feeds. All of these formats, however, use a standard XML file format to ensure compatibility with different machines and programs.
- Many sites and software applications also allow you to combine different RSS feeds to aggregate news and updates sourced from a number of websites.
In this in-depth guide, we show you how to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using RSS, and how to add content from other websites and blogs to your site via their RSS feed.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds
Content syndication is a powerful method used for sharing content online. RSS Feeds provide a simple way for online users to receive the latest information posted on different websites.
First, let’s take a look at content syndication.
Online media publications rely on content syndication to publish stories from news sources around the world.
Content syndication allows online newspapers and popular media publications to deliver readers stories and news from around the planet without having to employ more news writers in every location in the world …
(Most online newspapers rely heavily on syndication to publish newsworthy content from news sources around the globe.)
Syndication is used to share information legitimately. Global media publications syndicate news stories using news feeds …
(News reporting agencies syndicate their stories using news feeds)
Most websites actually would like you to syndicate their information. Content syndication not only allows great information to be shared, but it also drives visitors back to the site that published the original content being syndicated. This creates links that can drive traffic back to their site.
Most news reporting agencies and major content sites contain an RSS feed section (look for links in their navigation section that say “RSS” or “Newsfeeds” in them, or just search for “name of site/keyword + rss” – e.g. “nytimes rss”, “calgary herald rss”, “sydney morning herald rss”, etc.) …
(Most news reporting agencies and major sites contain an RSS feed section. Image Source: smh.com.au )
Clicking on a site’s RSS links section brings up a list of different RSS feed sections of the site …
(RSS feeds directory. Image: New York Times)
gives you access to information about different sections of the site (e.g. technology news, travel news, editorials, etc.)
A feed list can also contain further subcategory feeds …
(An RSS list can also contain subcategories. Image: LA Times)
Note: An RSS feed is simply a URL. All you need to do to use RSS feeds is to copy the URLs and paste these into a program that can process the feed code into something readable. We’ll cover this further below.
The Benefits Of Syndicating Content
Adding content from someone else’s site on your website has some obvious benefits. It not only gives someone else’s content additional exposure online, it also adds value to your site without you having to create the content …
(The Benefits Of Content Syndication)
While adding feeds from another site is a great way to add content to your site without having to create it, it’s worth keeping in mind that you also want other sites to use your content.
When other sites syndicate your content, this gives your business the opportunity to get increased exposure online and drive new visitors …
(Get users to syndicate your RSS feed … it will help drive more traffic to your site!)
WordPress RSS – About
WordPress automatically publishes a feed of your posts, allowing other online users to easily syndicate your content on their sites.
Depending on your WordPress site’s theme, there are a number of ways to get your WordPress RSS feed:
1) If your theme has been configured to display the Meta widget in a standard or custom menu …
(Your feed will display the number of posts as you have specified in the WP Reading Settings section)
Display Full Text Or Summary Of Posts In Your RSS Feed
The other setting in the WordPress Reading Settings section that affects your RSS feed is whether to display your posts as full text, or as a summary …
(WP Settings – Reading Settings – ’For each article in a feed show’ options)
Post Excerpts can also affect how the content in your feed displays …
(Post excerpts affect how your feed content appears)
We have created a detailed tutorial on Post excerpts here:
View The Content Of Your RSS Feeds
As mentioned previously, all you have to do to view the content of a feed is to copy the feed’s URL and paste it into an application that reads and translates feeds into readable content for humans.
Let’s take a look at how this works.
First, go to a website whose feed you want to subscribe to and search for a ‘subscribe’ link or icon …
(Look for an RSS feed link. Image source: YourCoffeeGuru.com)
Next, copy the feed URL to your clipboard …
(Copy the URL of your feed)
If you want, you can check the feed content by pasting the feed URL into an online feedreader …
(Paste the feed URL into a feed reader to view the content. Image Source: Feedreader)
Like feed readers, WordPress has the ability to process RSS/XML feeds and convert these into content that can be read by your visitors.
Adding Feeds To Your Site
Let’s show you how to add content from other site’s RSS feeds to yours.
Adding RSS Feeds To Your Sidebar
As mentioned earlier, no matter what industry you are part of, you could easily add to your site the latest updates from an industry-related government department or authoritative site in your industry by simply importing their RSS feed. You can easily display a range of information on your WordPress site like news, social media comments, or content from thousands of sites using the WordPress RSS widget.
Let’s add RSS content to the WordPress sidebar navigation area …
(Let’s add content from an RSS feed to your sidebar)
copy the feed URL from a website or blog containing content that you would like to display on your site to your clipboard …
(Copy your feed URL)
Next, go to your Widgets screen and paste the feed into an RSS widget …
(Widgets Section – RSS Widget)
To learn more about using widgets, go here:
Load your website in your web browser. The content can now be seen in the sidebar (or wherever the RSS widget has been inserted – e.g. footer) …
(RSS Feed Content Added To WP Sidebar)
Add Your WordPress RSS Feed To Search Consoles
You can add your WordPress RSS feed to Google and Bing’s search consoles. This will help them index your content faster.
(WordPress RSS feed added to Google Search Console)
Adding your site’s RSS feed to search consoles is simple, fast, easy, and requires no technical skills. For a step-by-step tutorial, go here:
How To Add Feeds To WordPress Posts
What if you want to add content from an RSS feed to a post instead of the sidebar?
You can do this using plugins. Search inside the Plugins screen (Plugins > Add New) for RSS feed, RSS feed to post, etc.
(’Add Plugins’ screen)
Note: These plugins typically require configuration – visit the plugin sites for setup instructions, or contact us for assistance with plugin configuration.
Here are a few WordPress plugins that allow you to curate and add content from RSS feeds to your posts:
WPeMatico
(WPeMatico – WordPress Plugin)
WPeMatico is an autoblogging plugin that allows you to publish posts automatically from RSS/Atom feeds of your choice.
You can manage all of your imported feeds and organize feeds according to categories and campaigns.
For more details, go here:
WP RSS Aggregator
(WP RSS Aggregator Plugin)
WP RSS Aggregator is a comprehensive RSS feed importer and auto blogging WordPress plugin with a number of premium add-ons for extended functionality.
For example, the Feed to Post extension for the WP RSS Aggregator plugin lets you add content to your site automatically by importing RSS feeds directly into your WordPress posts.
For more details, go here:
RSS Post Importer
(RSS Post Importer Plugin For WordPress)
RSS Post Importer can be used to import, curate, syndicate, merge and display full-text feeds on your WordPress site.
RSS Post Importer fetches an RSS feed and publishes the entire content of every item in the feed as a standalone post.
For more details, go here:
Powr RSS Feed
(Powr RSS Feed – WordPress Plugin)
POWr RSS automatically combines and displays content from multiple sources using RSS feeds.
The POWr RSS Feed plugin also lets you display videos, images, and articles, adjust feed size and spacing, use custom borders, colors, fonts, and more. It also has mobile-responsive design and supports text in all languages.
The premium version contains a number of additional features, such as the ability to display different feeds, manually accept or reject posts in your feed, and more.
For more details, go here:
WP Pipes
(WP Pipes)
The WP Pipes plugin is a powerful data migration plugin that allows you to create curate content from RSS feeds, Google News, and many other sources.
This plugin provides functionality like CSV importing for posts/WooCommerce, RSS feed creator, autoblogging, auto post to Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn, export WordPress posts as podcasts, create Google XML sitemaps, and more!
For more details, go here:
FeedWordPress
(FeedWordPress WP Plugin)
FeedWordPress is a versatile syndication plugin for WordPress.
As stated in the FeedWordPress website …
FeedWordPress is an open-source Atom/RSS aggregator for the WordPress blog publishing platform. You set up feeds that you choose, and FeedWordPress syndicates posts from those sources into your WordPress posts table, where they can be displayed by your WordPress templates like any other post — but with additional meta-data, so that your templates can properly attribute the post to the source it came from.
You can use this FeedWordPress to create aggregator site (sites that combine and display content from different sources), or display all of your online activity into a Lifestream.
For more details, go here:
Autoblog
(Autoblog WP Plugin)
Autoblog is an easy-to-use plugin that can be set-up very quickly, without coding skills or complicated instructions. Just copy and paste in the URL of your feed, name your feed (for admin purposes) and select the blog that you want it to post to.
For more details, go here:
RSS Includes Pages and Custom Post Types
(RSS Includes Pages Plugin For WordPress)
The RSS Includes Pages plugin modifies RSS feeds to include pages in addition to posts.
For more details, go here:
Useful Tips
Tip #1 – Comment RSS Feeds
In addition to displaying RSS feeds of your latest posts, WordPress also makes available RSS feeds of comments posted on your site.
To access these comments, locate the ‘Meta’ widget area on your sidebar menu (note: your theme may not be configured to display this widget) and click on Comments RSS …
(WordPress Comments RSS)
Comments posted on your site by visitors display in your Comments RSS page …
(Comments feed entries viewed using Firefox)
Like post entries, your comments feed content will display differently depending on which web browser you use …
(Comments feed entries viewed on Google Chrome web browser)
Again, you can check what the comments feed contains by pasting the URL of the feed into an online feedreader …
(Paste the URL of your comments feed into a feed reader to view the feed content. Source: http://feedreader.com/online)
Note: If the Meta section is not displaying on your theme, you can view the Comments RSS section of your site by opening up a browser and typing in the following URL:
- http://www.yourdomain.com/comments/feed
- http://www.yourdomain.com/blog/comments/feed (if your website has been installed in a subdomain, e.g. “blog”)
Tip #2 – Single Item Feeds
Being able to access an RSS feed for individual post items can be useful. For example, you may want to add feeds from specific posts to RSS aggregator sites, or you may have created a valuable resource that other online users will want to syndicate.
The formula for using an RSS feed for a single post item is shown below:
(Feed For Specific Post Item)
To create the above feed, copy the web address of your post, and append “/feed/?withoutcomments=1” to the end.
(Single Post Feed)
Note: By default, if you only add “/feed” to the end of a post URI, WordPress will return the comments associated with your post, not the content of the post itself.
Tip #3 – Using Post Category RSS Feeds
Some your site visitors may only be interested in syndicating content from one or two post categories. They may not want to subscribe to your entire site’s feed.
If you publish content under a number of categories, you can provide a separate feed for each category.
All you have to do is use the format shown below:
(WP post categories RSS feed format)
Select and copy the category URL to your clipboard …
(Select and copy your category link address …)
Add “feed” to the end of it …
(Feed format for category)
The RSS feed will now only display content published in that particular category …
(Category-specific feed page)
The WordPress Codex also provides different ways to create feeds not just for post categories, but also feeds for tags, authors, search, etc.
For this example, let’s create a feed for a specific post category using the format shown below:
(Post Category feed format. Source: WordPress Codex)
Here is the feed format WordPress recommends using. In this example, the post category ID is ’42’. We’ll need to replace the post category ID and the domain name …
(WordPress post category feed format)
To find the post category ID, go to Posts > Categories …
(Posts > Categories menu)
Locate the post category you want and hover your mouse over the title to reveal its unique ID …
(Post Category ID)
In our example, the post category ID is ’29’ and the post category feed format we need to use for this specific category with our domain name looks like this …
(Post category feed format with domain name and ID)
Copy and paste the feed into your browser and hit enter …
(Paste the feed into your browser)
This will display the feed for that specific category …
(RSS feed of a specific post category)
Note that in this example, WordPress automatically converted the feed format we pasted into the browser into the category feed we had used in the previous section of this tutorial …
(Post category feed format)
Here is the feed format again …
(Post category feed)
In this case, the simplest way to create additional feeds for specific categories is to simply change the post category slug …
(Change the post category slug to create a new category specific feed)
Paste the edited feed into your web browser and hit enter to display the content for that specific category’s feed …
(Post category feed content)
Now that you have a method for creating feeds for specific post categories (or tags, authors, etc.), you can even create a directory or list of individual feeds for visitors.
Tip #4 – Publish Your Own Feeds List
You can publish your own RSS feeds directory that allows your readers to subscribe to specific categories …
(Provide Your Own Feeds Directory)
You can link an RSS button image like the one shown below to the URL of your category feed and then create a table or a list of all your category feeds on a separate page …
(RSS button image. Image Source: public-domain-photos.com)
We have created a detailed tutorial about inserting tables into WordPress here:
RSS – Additional Notes
You can customize your feeds in various different ways, such as adding videos to feeds, ads, etc. Some of these customizations require code editing skills.
WordPress allows you to configure several feed types that do not require touching code. Here are some examples of custom feed formats you can use and how to format your feeds …
(WordPress RSS – Feed Formats)
For your convenience, here are the feed types, descriptions, and feed examples listed in the table above:
- Feed Type: All Posts
- Description: Content feed – RSS feed that contains your latest post entries
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/
- Feed Type: All Comments
- Description: Comments feed – RSS feed containing the latest comments left on your blog
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/comments/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts
- Description: Feed that displays a single post entry
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/title-of-your-blog-post/feed/
- Feed Type: Individual Posts Comments
- Description: Feed that displays the latest comments made on individual items
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/blog-post-title/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Day – Contains the latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2016/11/10/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Month – Displays latest posts in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2013/10/feed/
- Feed Type: Archives
- Description: Year – Contains latest entries in each archive
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/2012/feed/
- Feed Type: Search Results
- Description: RSS feed displaying the latest posts for a search query
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/search/term/feed/
- Feed Type: Custom Post Type
- Description: Displays latest entries for a custom type (e.g. book)
- Example Feed: http://yourdomain.com/feed/?post_type=book
One last thing …
Remember to let users know that they can subscribe to your feed. Place a subscribe buttons somewhere visible …
(Remember to promote your feeds!)
Keep in mind that online users will only want to subscribe to your content if you provide your subscribers with very high-quality information that will add value to their sites and benefit their users.
(Add content from other sites and get visitors to share your content with RSS feeds!)
If you need help coming up with content ideas subscribe to our FREE content creation course using the form below:
Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS feed 🙂
Resources:
- Feed Images – Visit Feedicons.com or search online (e.g. “free rss icons”, “RSS logo”, etc.) for sites that allow you to download Free RSS images.
- RSSBoard.org – The RSS Advisory Board provides useful information and links to resources about RSS.
- Wikipedia.org/RSS – Learn more about RSS.
- WordPress.org/RSS Feeds – WordPress documentation and information. Go here for additional information about RSS feeds in WordPress.
Congratulations! Now you know how to find your WordPress RSS feed, how to syndicate your content online using RSS, and how to add someone else’s content to your site via their RSS feed.
Hopefully, this information has given you a better understanding of problems that can affect your website and how WordPress can help you get better results online. To read more about the benefits of using WordPress for a business website please see other great content on this site.
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